Thursday, May 17, 2012

In the few years since I've joined Twitter, I've definitely loved being able connect with readers, reach out to restaurants and chefs directly, and follow hundreds of other people, places, and things. One thing I hadn't expected from Twitter is to win contests, but it has definitely been a great added bonus!

Last week, I won a contest put on by Hell's Kitchen Flea Market for their "Gourmet Food Truck Bazaar." I had never been to the flea market or the food truck bazaar, but now I had won a tasting to Palenque Columbian Food Truck and I was excited to check it all out.

On an absolutely gorgeous Sunday last weekend, I walked over there and found about 8 food trucks at the back of the market. They all looked so good.

I chatted with a few of the employees and they were all so friendly. One of the Colombian owners, who sits in the passenger seat to take the orders, told me how difficult it's been to run their truck. So, I promised to spread the word as much as I could!

The food was fresh, delicious, and, from what I gather, very authentic. Definitely check them out - their location schedule is on their website. Thanks again to the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market!

Worth the trip for...
- A great winebar atmosphere full with the requisite exposed brick, candlelit space
- Extensive, reasonably-priced wine list available by glass, caraffe, or bottle

Skip the trip for...
- Really lousy service - waitress hounded us 2 minutes after sitting down, and then disappeared for 30 minutes
- Pretty lousy food - everything was just "eh" - not one of the small plates we ordered was really noteworthy

Worth the trip if you're looking for...
- Really darn good food - Middle Eastern food can be pretty generic, but each of the 4 things we ordered was uniquely flavorful
- Such a modern, sleek design...despite it being one of the narrowest restaurants in the entire city (only 3 meters wide!)
- Great wine list divided up by Lebanon and The World - hadn't had Lebanese wine before, so we had to give it a shot!

Skip the trip if you're looking for...
- Really warm, friendly service - it wasn't bad, but the extremely burly guy was a little aggressive